Love Guru
by forbiddenquill
Summary: Leo and Reyna have Latin classes. Private Latin classes and Leo's loving every moment of it but soon starts to hate it because of Reyna's asking advice for Jason. He's turning into a Love Guru and yet he can't even tell the girl how he feels.


Leo tapped his pencil against the desk. He was in the _principia_, learning stupid Latin. Reyna herself had suggested that the Greek demigods of the Seven should learn Latin to come in terms with the Romans. Annabeth got paired off with Percy because he had learnt the language from Chiron, Piper with Jason because he's Roman and lastly, Leo with Reyna the cool and amazing praetor.

At first, he was really excited because...come on, this is Reyna! She was so beautiful with her dark silky hair braided down her shoulder, her dark obsidian eyes glaring at him from behind a table and her straight yet graceful posture when she paced back and forth in front of him, cursing because he couldn't understand a word about Latin. He grinned and played around with the materials he could find: a paperclip, some papers and a pencil. Soon, a helicopter was successfully flying around the room until Reyna irritably shoved it away.

"Come on, Leo, Latin is not difficult!" she said exasperatedly.

Leo snorted and eased back into his chair. He put his arms behind his head.

"Maybe it's because I'm not concentrating," he muttered loudly.

Reyna unsheathed her Imperial Gold dagger. Leo nearly stumbled back.

"Whoa, whoa, no need to get violent here," he said, raising his hands.

"I'm not going to attack you, Leo;" she said tiredly, "Maybe a warning would do you good."

Leo sat up straight and his face broke into a smirk.

"Jeez, Reyna, this is the reason why I told you that Latin for Greeks is bad," he said, shrugging.

Reyna raised her brows. "Latin isn't so bad, _graecus._"

He waved off his hand. "Again. No Latin please. I have a suggestion that can make this boring time pass by. How about we talk about what we can't tell others? It's really simple and we have to swear on the River Styx not to tell anyone else."

The idea had suddenly popped in his head that he didn't really care that Reyna held a dagger. He was just speaking out what came to his head but as soon the words got out, he realized that it was probably stupid. Leo Valdez always said stupid things so he was pretty sure that Reyna was going to skewer him for suggesting something like that. He wondered suspiciously if he was being controlled by an eidolon but it didn't feel like it.

He eyed Reyna's dagger warily. The praetor looked surprised for a fraction of a second before putting away her weapon. She dragged a chair across his table before setting it down and taking a seat. She crossed her arms and raised her brows expectantly. Leo gaped at her.

"Well? Aren't we playing the game?" she asked.

Leo shut his mouth. The corners of Reyna's lips twitched.

"You're seriously considering that?" he asked hesitantly.

She shrugged. "You said that our time studying Latin is boring so why not?"

"You first then, Queen," he said jokingly. He always called her Queen because that's what her name literally meant. And he loved the reaction he got. The moment of hesitation and the ghost of a smile that curled her lips. He liked that—he really did. Reyna shifted uncomfortably before locking eyes with Leo.

"I still love Jason," was the first secret she said.

Leo could feel his heart falling to Tartarus. He stared at her, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. _Again._ This was—the fourth time he got rejected. First, Thalia Grace then Khione and then Hazel Levesque. When was the rejection going to end? She was glaring at the table and he found himself hating Jason all of a sudden. How come all girls always looked at that Blondie's direction? He already had Piper and why couldn't the girls back off already? How could they not want to have a try at Leo Valdez?

"Oh," he said and she looked up at him.

"But he has Piper," she muttered, making a face.

Leo made a fist under the table as he forced a devious grin, "Yeah and Jason's great. I can understand why you like him. He's so good looking that I think I might just turn gay."

Reyna allowed herself to smile. Leo could feel his insides melting. He had never made her smile before until now anyway and it looked good on her. He leaned back.

"Now, tell me because I am Leo Valdez—expert on love and Jason Grace—have you ever told him?"

She looked away again. Her face hardened.

"If he hadn't been taken away by Juno, I would've told him," she said, _"Me odisse deos quandoque" (I hate the gods sometimes)_

"Can we just stop with the Latin? I know English, Spanish and Greek so please don't add another language."

She raised her brows. _"Conoce españoles?" (You speak Spanish?)_

"_Sí." _He nodded. _(Yes)_

"_Por qué nunca me lo dijiste?" _ she asked. _(How come you never told me?)_

"We're not really friends are we? And weren't we just talking about my dear old pal Jason Grace?"

She twirled with the end of her braid. She looked so beautiful, so natural that Leo found his mouth hanging again. Brilliant, he had to make sure that his mouth wouldn't drop whenever she passed by. He hated the way he felt about her because as she had said, _she still loved Jason_.

"_Que es un idiota a veces se aunque_," he chided. _(He's an idiot sometimes though) _

Reyna grinned. "You have no idea. He once tried to pet Aurum and Argentum. He kept his distance after that incident."

Leo frowned. "Silver and Gold right?"

She beamed at him. "Good, you're actually learning something from our private lessons."

"Of course, I'm Leo Valdez, baby."

Her dark look warned him not to call her "baby" any time soon.

"Now, can you help me from moving on?" she whispered so low as if she didn't want anybody to hear.

Leo furrowed his brows. "Why ask me? Why not a child of Aphrodite or something?"

"I don't trust the children of Venus," she simply said, "They _complicate_ everything."

Leo found himself thinking of the last time Piper tried to pair him up with a girl from the Hecate cabin. He ended up with a pig snout for a nose for two days. He told Reyna this and she cracked a full wide grin. The worry lines on her face almost disappeared at that moment. She looked younger, more carefree as if the weight of the entire camp had been lifted from her shoulders.

"I get rejected all the time," Leo began. _Like right now_, he wanted to say, "But I move on. I like to think that there's still some girl waiting for me out there, waiting for the funny and dashing Leo Valdez to sweep her off her feet and skip to the sunset." _And that girl could be sitting across me, _he thought.

"Are you really that cocky?" Reyna asked.

He grinned. "Well, I wouldn't call it cocky, maybe confident but yes."

"So, I just have to think positive?"

"Yes, that's right! Optimism is everything in this world of life forms," he said chuckling as he leaned forward towards her, the crazy look in his eyes dancing. "Listen to the advice of Leo Valdez and you would be with your dream guy in no time! Take a chance and everything will turn out great in the end."

"Did that work for you?" she asked quietly.

Leo's grin faded. "Not yet but soon. I've got a good feeling about it."

They were quiet for a full minute before Reyna checked the wall clock behind her. She made an irritated sound as she stood up, sweeping her braid over her shoulder. She nodded to Leo, the corners of her lips twitching as if she wanted to smile but was holding it back.

"Our supposedly Latin lessons are over," she said blankly. Leo stretched his arms and sighed.

"Finally." He yawned and stood up. He found out that Reyna was a few inches taller than him and it was annoying. Another reason to feel intimidated by Jason Grace; he was about six inches taller than Leo.

He gave Reyna a fleeting smile before bowing dramatically and saying, "I'll see you tomorrow, My Queen."

He turned around and left the _prinicipia, _his heart feeling low and heavy.

.

For the next few weeks, their Latin lessons turned into something like _Love Advice from the love guru Leo Valdez_. It wasn't that Leo didn't like the attention Reyna gave him; it was just that he would've loved the time they spent together if they weren't constantly talking about Jason Grace and how to move on from those electric blue eyes. He hated it, in fact. He dreaded the seconds that led up to their private lessons and he loathed the way he felt when he got out with his forced grin and stupid way of walking.

He really liked Reyna but he couldn't tell her.

He was near the Little Tiber at ten in the evening. Stars speckled the night sky. Camp Jupiter behind him was resting for the night. His pants were hiked up to his knees as he pushed his feet to the cool water. The river was shallow but he could feel the power the currents were radiating. His curly dark hair covered his face and on his side was his tool belt. He reached inside and pulled out a wad of gum.

"Do you mind sharing?" someone asked.

He nearly jumped out of his body. He turned around and saw Reyna walking gracefully towards him, the moonlight shimmering on her fair skin. Her hair was no longer braided but tumbling down her shoulders. She didn't wear her full body armour or praetor cape, just a regular purple shirt and some jeans. She still looked intimidating though as she took a seat next to him, her dark obsidian eyes stormy.

"And what on earth is the Queen doing here?" Leo asked jokingly.

She raised her brows. "I should be asking the same thing about you," she said.

He chuckled. "Just thinking," he mumbled.

They sat in silence, the atmosphere filled with the sounds of overlapping waves and the smell of freshly mown grass. Leo didn't want to look at Reyna anymore but he did anyway. She was so beautiful with the way her hair tumbled over her shoulders and the calm but firm look on her face.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the horizon.

"Some girl," the answer was out before he could stop it. Holy Aphrodite, he wasn't thinking straight. He mentally slapped himself but all Reyna did was smirk and roll her eyes.

"Well, I'm thinking of a guy as well," she said.

"You don't need a guy, Reyna," Leo said and he forced himself to look away, "You're powerful and amazing."

"Thank you for the compliment, Leo," she said.

Another pause. Leo dropped his head.

"You know, for the past few weeks," Reyna started, "We've been talking awfully a lot about Jason, right?"

He nodded, still not looking up.

"And we haven't really talked about what you wanted to say," She continued, "I'm sorry about that."

He cracked a grin. "It's alright. I actually liked being a love guru."

He could sense that she was looking curiously at him. He finally raised his head.

"Well, there's this girl," he mumbled, not really sure on what to say, "I like her a lot but she's crushing on this other dude. I don't know what to say or do. I'm hopeless really so I just smile and pretend like it's nothing even though I'm dying inside."

Reyna chuckled. "I know the feeling."

"With Jason right?"

She pursed her lips. "No, not Jason, thanks to you, I've moved on," she chided, "I've found a new guy but I'm not sure whether or not he likes me back."

"Can you tell me his name?"

"Can you tell me the girl's name?"

"Together then."

There was a strained silence. Leo held up three fingers and began putting them down, indicating the seconds that would pass before they said the names of the boy and girl together:

"_You." _

Another stunned silence. Leo stared at Reyna and Reyna stared at Leo then the next thing they knew, they were cracking up, holding their stomachs and letting out all the relief they had been holding. Leo thought this was a dream because no girl would like him, especially not Reyna but it made him blissfully happy. And it was because of _her._

"Wow, really?" he said, chuckling, "But bear in mind that I'm not Jason, Reyna."

She shook her head and threw his arms around him. She smelled of jelly beans and sweet roses. He liked that, he could grow addicted by that smell for the rest of his life.

"And that's why you're perfect, Leo Valdez," she told him, her dark eyes sparkling, "You will never be Jason."

And she leaned forward and their lips met. Leo liked that too. He could live his life just by kissing her.

If it hadn't been for Jason, Reyna would've never talked about him to Leo. For once, Leo Valdez didn't feel envious of his best friend anymore. He was just fine with being Leo-goofy-Valdez because he had Reyna with him.

.


End file.
